Tips for Improving Safety Training
Everyone knows safety training is important, but often workers, supervisors, and even companies have negative attitudes towards it. We have other things we’d rather be doing, or we believe that it takes workers off the job site and costs the company in lost time. The question becomes how can we change our attitudes toward safety training?
The remedy isn’t to shorten training sessions. The solution is to use training time more effectively. By placing an emphasis on engagement and changing simple things about the way instructors present training information, you can help employees focus on their training and remember what they learn once they’re out on the work site.
The first step in increasing engagement should begin before class even starts. It involves a change in perspective on the part of instructors and management, the forces behind training. In order to engage employees and give them confidence, instructors need to view training as a dialogue built around a safety-oriented corporate culture. This means management has the responsibility to set an example for employees and show them that safety goals, like having zero incidents, are worth striving for. This way management can set and test limits on performance while showing employees that there’s no excuse not to meet safety standards. Remember, actions speak louder than words.
Whether you use online training, classroom-based learning, or a combination of both, engagement plays a key role in information retention. Increased retention means lessons paid for in the classroom can help employees cut losses and reduce injuries on the job site, increasing your organization’s return on investment.
For more tips on improving safety training in your company, click here.
